[7] Peabody maintains ownership or majority interests in 17 surface and underground mining operations located throughout the United States and Australia.

The complaint, filed by the Coal Employment Project, a women’s advocacy organization, was based upon Executive Order 11246 signed in 1965 by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, which bars sex discrimination by companies with federal contracts.

[18] In the 1980s, Peabody expanded its operations in the Eastern United States, acquiring the West Virginia coal mines of Armco in 1984.

[19] The company sought to broaden its metallurgical coal portfolio through the purchase of Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates' seven West Virginia mines in 1987.

[13] Peabody also expanded westward, opening the North Antelope and Rochelle mines in the low sulfur Wyodak seam in the heart of Wyoming's Powder River Basin in 1983 and 1984, respectively.

However, other mines under its ownership were able to remain in operation due to the implementation of new equipment and procedures that reduced sulfur dioxide emissions.

[20] In 1993, Peabody Energy expanded their holdings in the Pacific with the acquisition of three mines in Australia and subsequently developed a fourth operation in New South Wales.

[21] Peabody also expanded its operations domestically with acquisitions in New Mexico in 1993 and Wyoming in 1994 and assumed a stake in Black Beauty, a Midwest producer, in response to increased demand for metallurgical coal.

[27] In 2007, Peabody and a consortium of municipal electric cooperatives began construction on the 1600-megawatt Prairie State Energy Campus clean coal project in Lively Grove, Illinois.

[30] At the 2010 World Energy Congress, Peabody CEO Gregory Boyce proposed a plan that advocated for the expanded use of coal worldwide, placing emphasis on geographic areas with limited or no access to electricity.

Sales revenue decreased by $539 million compared to the same period in the prior year, reflecting lower coal prices and reduced demand for steel.

[38] In November 2016, the day after Donald Trump won the US presidential election, shares of Peabody Energy surged more than 50 percent.

In October 2017, a judge ruled that Peabody Energy's bankruptcy protected it from "global-warming lawsuits brought by California coastal communities [in July 2017] against fossil-fuel companies.

"[43] In 2018, Peabody announced it plans to invest $10 million in a partnership with London-based Arq, a company that is advancing technology to convert coal into oil products.

"[46] Peabody Energy's world headquarters is in St. Louis, and, as of 2014, it also maintains offices in London, Beijing, Singapore, Brisbane, Sydney, Essen, Balikpapan, and Jakarta.

[52] The company's contracts with the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe were approved despite opposition from those who disputed the authority of the official tribal councils.

The company pumped potable water from the underground Navajo Aquifer (N-aquifer) to supply the slurry pipeline, a solution that generated controversy.

[55] In 2015, an investigation by the New York Attorney General concluded that Peabody had misled investors concerning the financial risks to the company caused by climate change.

[56][57][58] The practice of extracting coal from the earth for energy production purposes has been the subject of controversy for an extended duration of time.

[59] The Natural Resources Defense Council has been critical of Peabody's advocacy for expanding coal generated electricity in the U.S., specifically on account of the environmental impacts of surface mining operations.

[60] The environmental impact of Peabody's surface mining operations in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky was also the subject of criticism in John Prine's 1971 song "Paradise.

The company has taken steps to enact environmental restoration and has been recognized by the United States Department of the Interior, for their reclamation efforts.

[69][70] In 2014, Peabody Energy's CEO told a coal industry conference that coal-fired electricity generation would bring public health benefits in developing nations, specifically improving cold-chain refrigeration of a potential future Ebola vaccine.

[73] On March 28, 2016 the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality assured the federal Office of Surface Mining that Peabody Energy's self-bonding remained adequate.

The company also funded at least two dozen climate change denial organizations and front groups such as the George C. Marshall Institute, the Institute for Energy Research, Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, and the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change as well as scientists being famous for their contrarian opinions, among them Willie Soon, Richard Lindzen and Roy Spencer.